Editor's Pick: India leads global vaccines orders

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

India is set to buy the largest number of COVID-19 vaccine doses in the world, with orders placed for 1.6 billion doses of three vaccines. This has been reported in a research published by the Global Health Innovation Centre of Duke University in the U.S. The order includes 500 million doses of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine; 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute; and one billion doses of the NVX‑CoV2373 by U.S.-based Novovax.

All three are vaccines that are being manufactured in India: Covishield and NVX‑CoV2373 by the Serum Institute of India in Pune, and Sputnik-V by Dr. Reddy's. The Union Health Minister had in November said that the government is looking to make available 400-500 million doses of the vaccine in India by July-August next year. 1.6 billion vaccine doses, distributed over the next year or so, would be enough to inoculate about 800 million people or about 60 % of the population. This is the threshold to achieve herd immunity, with the large number of immune persons preventing quick spread of infection.

The Novovax vaccine, which forms the bulk of India's order, utilises a unique technology of nanoparticles carrying the antigens into the body. This vaccine can be transported under normal refrigeration, making it suitable for distribution using India's universal immunisation programme. The efficacy data for this vaccine is yet to be available, while Covishield has reported a 70% average efficacy and Sputnik-V claims over 90%.

The Duke University report shows that the Advanced Market Commitments, or pre-orders for vaccines, have been made predominantly by high-income countries, with 3.8 billion doses set to go to them. The data shows that Canada, U.S., EU and U.K. and Australia have ordered enough vaccine doses to ensure 200-600% coverage of their populations. Lower-middle income countries have made orders for 1.7 billion doses, a bulk of which would be India's number. India has an advantage among lower income countries since it is involved in the manufacture of the vaccines and can negotiate AMCs along with the manufacturing agreements. This gives rise to the worry that poorer countries will be able to access enough vaccines only much later, even by several years.

While the news that India has prebooked enough vaccines to ensure herd immunity is welcome, the possibility of unequal distribution of vaccines is alarming. This could result in global no-go areas and affect travel and trade further, especially for poorer countries. This is what makes the story important.